ASRA at the HIR and the Coupe de la Jeunesse

At this year’s Home International Regatta, hosted by England on the 22nd July at Strathclyde Park, Abigail (15) and Megan (16) , as the Scottish select in Women’s Junior Pairs , and Seth Turner (15), Conrad Forbes (17) Theo Stott (17) and Aidan Graham (16), with cox Emily Murdoch, in Men’s Junior Coxed Fours, did ASRA proud as always , but found the going predictably hard against opposition in almost every case one or two years above their own age level. It was of course a particularly savage reality check for Abigail, Megan, Seth and Aidan, who had medalled so outstandingly in J16 events at the British Junior Rowing Championships at Nottingham just a week earlier.

There is however consolation in the fact that all of this year’s Scottish caps are eligible to do it all again in 2018 and we have every reason to believe that some, if not all of them, given their present level of commitment, can equal, if not surpass, ASRA’s HIR successes of the past.

Just a week later, at the annual Coupe de la Jeunesse Regatta, held this year in Hazewinkel, Belgium, on the 29th and 30th July, in which 13 European nations took part, our ASRA boys - not to be outdone by the girls’ J16 GB v France success - won yet another gold medal in a GB vest - this time at J18 level. Miles Beeson and Robert Powell, having taken bronze in the “A” final of Men’s Junior Eights on the Saturday, snatched gold in a time of 5.56.78 in the same event the following day, pushing Switzerland with a time of 5.57.37 into second place and Saturday’s gold medallists, the Czech Republic, into third. The last time a Coupe medal went to an ASRA rower was back in 2000 in Switzerland , when David McNeill won bronze in the Pairs event.